Customers
In general, shopping has always catered to middle class and upper class women. Shopping is fragmented and pyramid-shaped.
At the pinnacle are elegant boutiques for the affluent; a huge belt of inelegant but ruthlessly efficient “discounters”
flog plenty at the pyramid’s precarious middle. According to the analysis of Susan D. Davis, at its base are the world’s
workers and poor, on whose cheapened labor the rest of the pyramid depends for its incredible abundance.[8] Shopping has
evolved from single stores to large malls containing many stores that most often offer attentive service, store credit,
delivery, and acceptance of returns.[8] These new additions to shopping have encouraged and targeted middle class women.
In recent years, online shopping has become popular; however, it still caters to the middle and upper class.[citation needed]
In order to shop online, one must be able to have access to a computer, a bank account and a debit card. Shopping has
evolved with the growth of technology. According to research found in the Journal of Electronic Commerce, if we[who?] focus
on the demographic characteristics of the in-home shopper, in general, the higher the level of education, income, and
occupation of the head of the household, the more favourable the perception of non-store shopping.[9] An influential factor
in consumer attitude towards non-store shopping is exposure to technology, since it has been demonstrated that increased
exposure to technology increases the probability of developing favourable attitudes towards new shopping channels.[9]
Online shopping widened the target audience to men and women of the middle class. At first, the main users of online shopping were young men with a high level of income and a university education.[9] This profile is changing. For example, in USA in the early years of Internet there were very few women users, but by 2001 women were 52.8% of the online population.[9] Sociocultural pressure has made men generally more independent in their purchase decisions, while women place greater value on personal contact and social relations.[citation needed]
Trends
One third of people that shop online use a search engine to find what they are looking for and about one fourth find websites by word of mouth.[10] Word of mouth has become a leading way by which people find shopping websites. When an online shopper has a good first experience with a certain website, sixty percent of the time they will return to that website to buy more.[10]
Books are one of the things bought most online. However, clothes, shoes, and accessories are all very popular things bought online. Cosmetics, nutrition products, and groceries are increasingly being purchased online.[10] About one fourth of travelers buy their plane tickets online because it is a quick and easy way to compare airline travel and make a purchase. Online shopping provides more freedom and control than shopping in a store.[8][10]
From a sociological perspective, online shopping is arguably the most predictable way to shop.[8] One knows exactly what website to go to, how much the product will cost, and how long it will take for the product to reach them. Online shopping has become extremely routine and predictable, which is one of its great appeals to the consumer.
Logistics
Consumers find a product of interest by visiting the website of the retailer directly, or do a search across many different vendors using a shopping search engine.
Once a particular product has been found on the web site of the seller, most online retailers use shopping cart software to allow the consumer to accumulate multiple items and to adjust quantities, by analogy with filling a physical shopping cart or basket in a conventional store. A "checkout" process follows (continuing the physical-store analogy) in which payment and delivery information is collected, if necessary. Some stores allow consumers to sign up for a permanent online account so that some or all of this information only needs to be entered once. The consumer often receives an e-mail confirmation once the transaction is complete. Less sophisticated stores may rely on consumers to phone or e-mail their orders (though credit card numbers are not accepted by e-mail, for security reasons).
Monday, January 31, 2011
Monday, December 7, 2009
About najuka
INTRODUCTION
Online shopping is the process consumers go through to purchase products or services over the Internet. An online shop,
eshop, e-store, internet shop, webshop, webstore, online store, or virtual store evokes the physical analogy of buying
products or services at a bricks-and-mortar retailer or in a shopping mall.
The metaphor of an online catalog is also used, by analogy with mail order catalogs. All types of stores have retail web
sites, including those that do and do not also have physical storefronts and paper catalogs. Online shopping is a type of
electronic commerce used for business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions.
Webshop
The term "Webshop" also refers to a place of business where web development, web hosting and other types of web related
activities take place (Web refers to the World Wide Web and "shop" has a colloquial meaning used to describe the place).
Buying online introduced new ways of reducing costs by reducing the number of staff needed. It is a more effective way of
getting products to people and spreading into different demographics.
Benefits of online shopping
Bargaining power of consumers. They enjoy a wider choice
Supplier power. It is more difficult for consumers to manage a non-digital channel.
Internet increases commoditisation
Threat of new entrants. Online means it is easier to introduce new services with lower over-heads
Threat of substitutes
Rivalry among competitors. It is easier to introduce products and services to different markets
[edit] History
Online shopping pre-dates the internet/www, the IBM PC and Microsoft. It was invented in the
of Redifon Computers. Aldrich connected a modified 26" colour television to a real-time transaction processing computer via
a domestic telephone line and demonstrated online shopping.[1] From 1980 onwards he sold his systems in the
able success.
The world's first recorded B2B online shopping system was Thomson Holidays in March 1981.[2] The world's first recorded B2C
was Gateshead SIS/Tesco in May 1984.[3] The world's first recorded online home shopper was Mrs Jane Snowball of
in Financial Services and manufacturing industry, used the Aldrich systems. These systems operated over the switched public
network in dial-up and leased line modes. There was no broadband capability.
In 1990 Tim Berners-Lee created the first World Wide Web server and browser.[6] In 1992 Charles Stack created the first
online book store, Book Stacks Unlimited (aka Books.com), two years before Jeff Bezos started Amazon.[7] In 1994 other
advances took place, such as online banking and the opening of an online pizza shop by Pizza Hut.[6] During that same year,
Netscape introduced SSL encryption of data transferred online, which has become essential for secure online shopping. In 1995 Amazon expanded its online shopping, and in 1996 eBay appeared.[6].
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)